Ishqiya

When I heard the name of the movie….I went with the name literally….Ishq Kiya. Also I have a notion about some films. If they are highly publicized or hyped…they turn out to be a big BORE. Seeing the promos of the film did not give a pinch of hint about what the movie really was. Was it a love story, a thriller, or a comedy? The start cast was all together diverse. Vidya Balan has been paired against so many actors. But with only a few does she compliment the role she plays. In addition the duo…Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi . They too come from a very different line of acting. If it is a love story whom does Vidya Balan fall in love with? Keeping “Dil to Bachha Hai Ji”…in mind we think her muse would be NS. And the other hot and steamy scene between VB and AW…tells another story.

I had to watch this one more Vishal Bhardwaj movie.

Babban and Khalujaan, are on a run trying to hide away from Mushtaq who is Khalujaan’s brother in law. The duo has money that belongs to Mushtaq and that’s how the movie starts. Mr. Director has taken beautiful shots of green fields and sunset of the rural. Mushtaq is shown as a very creepy and villainous character who threatens to kill to Khalujaan and Babban if they don’t pay his money back to him.

                              

                                 

They somehow get rid of Mushtaq and set themselves to hide out again. That is how they reach Krishna Verma (VB) house. Here Krishna is a widow and lives in a village house all by herself. But the way she has been portrayed since her first shot, she seems to a woman who is in midst of some mystery …like some unfinished business. Her husband was a criminal, and a wanted one, Krishna wanted her husband Vermaji to surrender to the police and get minimum punishment for his ill deeds. To get himself out of Krishna’s persuasion, he weaves a plan for his freedom. He plots a gas cylinder fire explosion where he is claimed dead. But in reality he escapes the fire and works for crime in a disguised manner.

Krishna when comes across Khalujaan and Babban who are both in search of money, in bits for companionship and in some other bits for love and sex. She in return plans to get Vermaji to her house at any cost. She is too smart to know that Khalujaan and Babban both are attracted towards her. She plays around them for her own personal gains and ultimately hits the bulls eye to take her revenge from Vermaji.

The intricacies of the movie would be best seen not told, hence not giving away the whole story. But yes I would like to share some of the commendable scenes and dialogues of the movie.

1. The car that Babban drives while coming to Krishna’s house has a naked lady hanging to its rear view mirror. While Khalujaan comes to know that Babban made one of his nieces pregnant while staying at a hide out J.
2. Mushtaq readies a grave for the duo and asks them if there is any last wishes, Babban takes the opportunity and narrates a small story. The manner in which he tells the story is typically Bhopali..

3. Babban and Khalujaan even though on a hideout and located by Mushtaq and his men. In a very mean and most cruel facial expressins Mushtaq says “Mujhe mere PAISE chahiyennn”.

        

4.When Babban wants to enquire about Vermaji’s status, he asks Krishna…”Aaj kal nange hain yaa dhoti mein?”….He means is he out free or in jail?

       

5.In the beginning they have shown a typical picture where the criminals are showcased in a in a traditional manner with the police men.

       

6.Babban wants to go to a red light area and asks Nandu to take him around the village. Their conversation is:

“Nandu: In sab ka Rs 500 lagega . Babban: Abe teri kaun legaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa……”J

      

7.Slangs are used heartily and new word has been added, ‘Ch*tiam Sulphate!’

The songs are melodious and well paced with incidents in the story. Most popular of the songs are Ibn-E-Batuta…and Dil to Bachha hai JI… Sets for this film have been shown as of a typical village panorama. The costumes have been matched to the north Indian culture to a great extent. Make up and character buikding has been done superbly, showing Babban with his creepy beard, loud clothes and Naseeruddin Shah with subtle clothes but still with a tinch of wickedness. Plain chiffon sarees in pastel shades are given to Vidya Balan, which she carries off very naturally with classic deep neck and back blouses..:-).

For Arshad Warsi and Naseeruddin Shah BOLD is a familiar word as they have played niche roles earlier too. But yes for Vidya I would rank it as a BOLD & BEAUTIFUL performance. The cowboy music at the end with all 3 characters walking in harmony towards future leaves us with speculations with what will happen next in their lives.

Evening at Taj

There’s already a lot of stuff written about The Taj Mahal, and frankly we don’t have anything new.
This post is about Photography at Taj. We have been there quite a few times although not always for Photography.

First we went there when we were in college, and it was more of a casual hang out of five of us. We didn’t know much about photography then so paid no attention to different angles to Shoot Taj. We were too damn tired from the last night’s train journey from Allahabad to Agra. We spent the night on the footrest of the Brahmaputra Mail. But honestly it wasn’t that bigger deal back then. We were quite used travelling this way. We were actually happy that we got a place to sit otherwise we could’ve been in the general class, standing outside the urinal :) .
Next day we reached Taj in the evening and we just sat there for couple of hours, watching Birds (all Kind of ) and foreigners.

Second time we went there we both had our brand new Camera’s (SLR and Coolpix). We wanted to capture like no one has ever done. Different Angles, different emotions. It was again in the late afternoon (March i guess). So we had to keep track of time as well so that we had sufficient light to shoot with.

When you enter Taj, you have to clear a Security check point, so you need to deposit your bags and all the stuff outside, except for the camera and Cell phones.

As we move forward we took images of e’thing we saw. This helps in two ways, one that when you look the images afterward its like a Visual tour of the place, secondly as there are not very important pics, you can play with the Camera settings, which can be really useful later on, like ISO, Shutter Speed, Exposure etc.

As you move on from Security point you get to a juncture where all the three entrance to taj meet. They are called East, West and South Gate, relative to Taj.




This is the Grand entrance to Taj Mahal.Its very simlar to the entrance of Fatehpur Sikri, although not as tall, but similar in architecture. Arabic patterns embossed alongside the door.





It looks exactly same from both the Front and the back side.




I have seen the same pattern at Agra Fort, Lal Quila and Purana Quila in Delhi (Red fort and Old Fort) as well.

Funny thing is that actual height of the door, with which you go through is hardly 15 feet.and width of around 10 feet. So on a crowdy day its difficult to pass through. but here is the point where you can get some good shots as well. But you need to be tall enough to get your view finder above all Heads.



People queue in here to get that Perfect portrait for their drawing rooms.




The Couple and the Taj. We also got a pic when one such couple were posing for theirs. We hope they get to see it one day.


Their is one more favourite spot for the Couples, specially for the Newly Weds and almost everyone tries to get this for their album. Sitting on that Marble platform and Taj in the background. For example this couple holding each others hand. So touching lol...



Their is a beautiful garden on the both the sides of the walk-a-way to Taj.

Now we come to main building Taj itself. As we have said earlier, their is plenty of stuff already on net about the Taj. So not needed here, just few snaps. btw if you are interested in some historical facts please have a look at the building stone detailing all the major facts about chronology of the Taj and associated buildings.



Btw people still offer their prayers in the mosques, on the left and right side of Taj, called Jamat-Khana

Some of our good Taj snaps.

 

     

 

Finally we did some experimentation with the setting Sun and Taj.
 

Typos or Blunders

1. Can you please give me a sex?
I was chatting to my colleague(female) and all I wanted to say was "Can you please give me a sec?"(I was asking for a second of time), but I made a blunder. Thank god she also just ignored it. But I was embarrassed :p.

2. Can I see the condition of boobs?
One day one lady posted an ad for selling some second hand books. And I wanted to say if I can see the condition of books. But again I made a typo and said if I can see the condition of boobs.

3. First ruin the project then leave.
Actually I was asking my colleague to run the project before leaving but I typed ruin . Thank god he did not ruin it literally.

4. Please insert the dick.
Here we were talking about inserting the disk in the laptop.

5. Fox will be delivered by end of the day.
I wanted to say fix (for an issue) will be delivered by end of the day, but I type "O" in place of "I"
 in the word fix.

Enjoy,
Agry

Story Of Names

Shakespeare once said "What's in the name?", but I think he was talking about other peoples name because people care a lot about there own name but give a damn to others name . In my life so far I have seen people giving strange nick names to other people around them. Here I will talk about few very interesting and strange names.

1. Daggu (Douglas): In 1994, when I was in 9th std, a boy Bhavnish Mathur joined our school. He was average guy but was very good in English communication. Nobody in our class was habitual of talking in english but this guy was very fluent. And soon he became class monitor. Almost all of the guys were jealous of him. And then we named him Douglas based on the name of British general posted in India before independence. But as the name was little long we made it short and started calling him Daggu. After some time people actually forget his real name. Everybody knew him as Daggu. Funny thing was, even his father started calling him Daggu.

2. Tuiyaan: This sound like a Chinese name but its one of my childhood friends name. His actual name was Vinod but I do not have any idea why we used to call himTuiyaan.

3. Byaasi: This guy was not my friend but a friend of friend. The word byaasi is a Hindi word for eighty two (82). He got this name after passing his matriculation with 82% marks. And after 1 or 2 years most of people knew him by this name only.

4. Phaphek: This word does not exist in any language, at least not in the languages that I know. One of my close friend Ajay got this name because he used to use this word a lot. One incident that I remember when he used this word was while explaining a sex scene. And he was trying to explain the moment when the guy inserted the penis.

5. Pada: The upper part of penis is called "Supada" in Hindi slang. My friend Upendra was a very good football player and daily he used to go to Agra stadium for practice. There his friends started calling him Supada, may be because some resemblance of face with the actual thing. And when we (his school friends) got to know about his name the we shortened this name and started calling him Pada . This name was a huge hit. Even today ,i.e. after 12/13 years, everybody knows him by this name. Even teachers of our school knew his name and they used to think that we call him Pada because he looks like "Pahadi"(hindi name for anyone who is from Hilly areas).

6. Putthhey: Its a slang for butt. The guy was my engineering classmate. His actual name was Anubhav. People used to like his butt and named him "Mast Putthhey". "Mast" is Hindi word for cool. Gradually Mast faded away and only Putthhey left.

7. Afeemchi: Afeemchi is a person who is addicted to  Afeem, Hindi word for Opium. Neeraj, my schoolmate,  got this name because he was having drunken eyes. Even in the morning his eyes used to be as if he had opium shots.

Enjoy,
Agry

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

I have read this novel twice. Once when I visited Erin & Pavan in 2002 and secondly this month in 2010. But felt immense pleasure re-reading too. Erin loved the novel and referred it to me. I too made a chain of readers based on my likeness & instead they loved the book too.

Piscine Molitor Patel: this name seems to be a quite unusual name..doesn't it?....He got this name from his father who named him after a swimming pool..as he was a great fan of that pool and passionate about swimming. Pi as he was later called by his family and friends had a hard time renaming himself to PI..as the no>>3.14...pi in geometry. There are funny instances where he is also nicknamed as pissing..:-)..Poor Pi had a good struggle in getting a fair amount of justice to his unique name.

His family owned a Zoo in Pondicheery. Pi grew up with a parents and elder brother Ravi. As a youngster Pi grew up amongst animals and had reasonable knowledge about the wild. For some reasons his father had to sell off his Zoo and shift to Canada. The story begins when Pi and his family starts their journey to Canada on a Ship called Tsimtsum with a few animals on board too. This ship sank and Pi was the only survivor. He was a castaway for 227 days and his only friends were water,aquatic environment, Richard Parker and Sun.

The sinking of the ship leaves pi with options of living with an animal on board or just waiting to die. He keeps remembering, Vishnu, Allah and Jesus. Living in the wild made him wild enough to catch sea turtles and flying fish to satisfy his appetite. There many interesting things about what to do and what not to do if you are sea struck and have to live alone out in the sea. The survival manual included:
* Do not drink urine or sea water or bird blood.
8 Do not eat jelly fish or any spiked fish.
* Do not unnecessarily exert.
*Sea turtles are an excellent source of a wholesome meal.
Do not loose hope!



The end of the books entails how Pi makes up two stories about his survival. The one with Richard Parker(A Bengal tiger),orangutan, hyena & Zebra...and one with himself, mother, sailor and the cook. Its amazing to read how both the stories are related. Pi is sad to say Good Bye to Richard Parker his only friend and buddy. When Pi is rescued from the lifeboat in Canada, 2 Japanese investigators unveil the truth as in what really happened on the ship and how Pi and Richard Parker survived.

Reading this book also reminds me of the movie The Castaway and The Big Fish. Those who have like The Life Of Pi...Will also like these two movies. When I suggested this book to Manish he was happy to read and blog about it amazingly.
You can reach his blog at-->

http://paanchfarzi.blogspot.com/2008/09/amazing-piece-of-imagination-by-yann.html

The Children of Heaven.

After a very long time I saw a movie that made me feel happy and thoughtful. This is a lovely Persian movie plotted between a sister and brother. Zaahra & Ali. They live with their parents who live with hand to mouth earnings...

Zaahra is looking forward for Ali to come back with the old pair of her shoes so that she can wear them to school tomorrow. Somehow Ali looses her shoes and comes back promising Zaahra he will find her shoes. He tells her not to bother her ill mother and tensed father as they have a crunch of money and plus he will get scoldings and beatings from them too. This scene is so beautifully pictured where Zaahra and Ali are arguing for old but very adored shoes completely cut off from a major tension of their sick mother and financial crunch. Even though they belong to a poor family these kids gave fair time and value to studies and kept their house so neat and clean.

Out of the argument Ali persuades Zaahra that they will swap his sneakers, she can wear them to school and then later in the noon he will wear them to his school. Although they come face to face to a lot many difficulties but still they managed. As Zaahra had to rush from school everytime so that Ali could get on time to school, she ran to change the sneakers half way and then Ali ran towards his school. He was caught by his headmaster and warned to be thrown out of school if he is late again.



Ali's father gets hold of some old gardening equipments. They both make a trip to the city to get some gardening assignments. Ali's father being a simpleton does not know how to approach people with his services...Ali helps him converse with the house owners and is able to get an assignment where they make handsome money. On their way back on their bicycle, Ali's father is very happy that he has made good money to buy his mother the refrigerator, some goodies for Zaahra. Ali especially mentiobs Zaahra needs new shoes. Just then they reach a road which is sloped down and the cycle looses its brakes. They both tumble down to the road..and then have to lift a ride back home.


Zaahra a small girl even though angry on Ali does not tell her parents about her much loved shoes. In the mean time Zaahra finds out her old shoes on one other class mates feet and soon becomes friends with her. Now Ali comes to part in his school where he learns that there is a race in his school and there are some intimidating prizes for the winners. Especially for the third place winner who will win a pair of sneakers. He pleads his Sports Master to register him and assures him that he will win the race. The Sports teacher to his amazement puts Ali on trial runs and finds out him to be quick runner. Ali very happy comes home to Zaahra to fill her up with the good news of the race. Zaahra is happy and also worried what if he does not come third then..?....Ali smiles and with full confidence assures Zaahra...he will win the sneakers for her.


I will not tell you the end of the story. You have to watch it for yourself.
Does Zaahra get her sneakers?.....Ali ..did he win the third place..?...Does Zaahra tell her parents ultimately and Ali gets a beating?....




Mere music and simplicity of the characters is really remarkable. The way they have made these children dress with just two to three sets of clothes, the way Ali's hair is dressed. The way Ali has respect for his elders and unlike the other kids of his age, he cares for his mothers illness and helps around the house. He knows he is a good athlete, his frinds keep on calling him to play football so that they win, but he refuses every time. He knows where to play his skill and hence argues with his Sports Teacher to let him run and win. The way he is shown to take care of his little sister and manipulate her anger for good...is beautifully depicted in this movie. In today's age children are crazy about gadgets, movies, amusement parks ...cartoons....the list can go on. I had seen another film like this .. "Tahaan"..where a small kid was madly in love with his Donkey and did everything and anything to get it back. That too was a lovely movie. If there was an Indian movie inspired...And I have facts that there is a movie coming up..I would like them to have the song...'Phoolon Ka Taaron Ka Sabka Kehna Hai..Ek Hazaaron mein meri Behnaa hai'....this song or background score incorporated in the movie.

All and all marvelous short movie.

Benjamin's Pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ON his 1st B’day….

 

Gold from Fight Club

Loved the Movie ...actually its more of a Philosophy rather than being just a movie.
I picked out few Quotes from the movie which I liked, specially the Last one "His name is Robert Paulson" reminds me of "Who is John Galt":

>>That old saying, "How you always hurt the one you love?"
Well, it works both ways.

>>With insomnia, nothing's real.
Everything's far away. Everything's a copy Of a copy of a copy.
When you have insomnia, you're never really asleep...
and you're never really awake.


>>When deep space exploration ramps up, it'll be the corporations that name everything:
The I.B.M. Stellarsphere,
The Microsoft Galaxy,
Planet Starbucks.

>>We used to read pornography. Now it was the Horchow collection.

>>Lost in oblivion...Dark and Silent and Complete......I found freedom.
Losing all hope was freedom.


>>You know why they put oxygen masks on planes?
So you can breathe.
Oxygen gets you high. In a catastrophic emergency, you're taking giant panicked breaths.
Suddenly you become euphoric, docile.
You accept your fate.

>>We're, uh, you know, consumers...
We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession.
Murder, crime, poverty-- these things don't concern me.
What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy's name on my underwear.
Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra.

>>It's all going down, man. So f*** off with your sofa units and Strinne green stripe patterns.
I say, never be complete.
I say, stop being perfect.
I say, let's... let's evolve.
Let the chips fall where they may.
But that's me, and I could be wrong.
The things you own end up owning you.


>>My dad never went to college, so it was real important that I go.
So I graduate, I call him up long distance.
I say, " Dad, now what?" He says, "Get a job."
Now I'm 25.
I make my yearly call again.
I say, " Dad, now what?"
He says, "l don't know. Get married."
Eh, I mean...
I can't get married. I'm a 30-year-old boy.
We're a generation of men raised by women.
I'm wondering if another woman is really the answer we need.


>>Gentlemen, welcome to Fight Club.
The first rule of Fight Club is...
You do not talk about Fight Club.
The second rule of Fight Club is...
you do not talk about Fight Club.
Third rule of Fight Club...
Someone yells "Stop!" goes limp, taps out,the fight is over.
Fourth rule...
Only 2 guys to a fight.
Fifth rule...
One fight at a time, fellas.
Sixth rule...
No shirts, no shoes.
Seventh rule...
Fights will go on as long as they have to.
And the eighth and final rule...
If this is your first night at Fight Club... you have to fight.

>>When the fight was over, nothing was solved, but nothing mattered.

>>Most people... normal people... do just about anything to avoid a fight.

>>How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?


>>You're not your job.
You're not how much money you have in the bank.
You're not the car you drive.
You're not the contents of your wallet.
You're not your f***in' khakis.
You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.


>>I felt sorry for guys packed into gyms, trying to look like how Calvin Klein or Tommy Hilfiger said they should.
Is that what a man looks like?
Ahh. Self-improvement is masturbation. And self-destruction.

>>The c****m is the glass slipper of our generation.
You slip one on when you meet a stranger.
You... dance all night. Then you throw it away.
The c****m, I mean. Not the stranger.


>>Our fathers were our models for God.
If our fathers bailed, what does that tell you about God?
No, no...Listen to me.
You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you,
He never wanted you.
In all probability, He hates you.
This is not the worst thing that can happen.
We don't need Him.
We don't! I agree!
F*** damnation, man. F*** redemption.
We are God's unwanted children?



>>Man, I see in Fight Club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived.
I see all this potential. And I see squandering.
An entire generation pumping gas...waiting tables...slaves with white collars.
Advertising has its taste in cars and clothes...working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.
We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place.

>>We have no Great War... no Great Depression.
Our Great War's a spiritual war.
Our Great Depression is our lives.
We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars.
But we won't.
We're slowly learning that fact, and we're very, very pissed off.


>>Narrator: I felt like putting a bullet between the eyes of every panda that wouldn't screw to save its species.
I wanted to open the dump valves on oil tankers and smother all those French beaches I'd never see.

>>His name is Robert Paulson.

Winters!!

People..never before I have felt this cold as I have felt in the past 2 months. Every time I was in a cold place...I did not stay long enough to be friends with the chill. But this time I guess I am almost friends with Winter. My best friends this time of the year are warm clothes, tea/coffee, blankets, Blower, geyser, socks, rum (in moderate amounts..;->) and of course Manish!!

Blower works like a heater and keeps the room warm enough and makes u capable of loosing out on your laziness and working. Getting up in the morning FOR ME is such a big task.....Blower and mild efforts of waking me up....Make it a little easy getting up and head towards the starting the day with a cup of tea.

Coming to Bombay..I said HI to my feet..they were always covered with socks. Only while taking a bath socks were off. Standing around the kitchen regardless of I am cooking or Manish is...only the flame has to be lit up. It kept me warm too. Although it might seem a lil yucky to hear ...but most cold situations were sitting on a wet toilet seat, taking a bath, getting out of a warm room to go fetch something from a room that was almost 5-6 degrees different in temperature, working .....and despite the cold I did all this....

Also because Manish is not of a cold feeling person, I wear his part of warm clothes..:-)..in house he roams as it is summers. He has to listen to "Arrre baaap re bahut thand hai"...."bau thandi laage che baaaaapu","Aaaaa......thandi lag rahi hai"....at least 10 times a day and respond normally and making me feeel..its ok....life goes on..no matter how cold...and because of him..enjoy the cold.

I wonder at times if the winetrs or the summers..which are more tolerable in north...I have seen both now...now I feel summers were good..lets see what I feel when Summers are here!!!!!!!